Well, since the eye is not hitting Houston and we are pretty north of Houston, we decided to stay and hang with Harvey.
We had a good amount of water already, bought a little more, stocked up on non-refrigerated food and snacks. We are good on batteries, so we are going to sit here.
Out little rental is pretty high in the area, so the water would have to get almost 40' to flood us. That will never happen. All of Houston would be underwater. We will probably be flooded in and lose electricity for a while.
All of this made me realize how we set ourselves up with the new house. It is hurricane rated for support, we will have a house generator that runs on propane - which we will have a large tank of, we will also have a well - with a house filter and will be able to filter further during these times, so no worries about water.
I always thought I would just leave for a hurricane, but after living through one, and having friends and family sit on the highway during another, we feel we are far enough from the coast to miss the majority of the storm and are set up to ride out the aftermath. We take all hurricanes on a case by case basis.
So, if anyone was wondering - we are fine. Stocked and ready to go - feeling optimistic, but ready to get it over with.
I will check in unless we lose electricity. If you know anyone in Corpus Christy (or has evacuated), know I am thinking about them - hoping they are all safe!
one husband......four kids......debt......sewing...... saving......cooking......yoga......sweet......chaos......life......
Somehow, I did not know you lived near Houston. I never run from tornadoes, either. I get ready and sit her. One ripped a portion of the roofing off. Another took out things at the other end of the block. Other than that, all has been fine. I would hate being in a shelter. Good luck with Harvey. It sounds like you are prepared.
ReplyDeleteYeah, for us, it will be all about the water. We are supposed to flood - more than the winds. I am not very worried.
DeleteWhen I lived in Dallas, I sat through tornadoes as well. I was actually in my school when one hit, but it only hit one side and many did not even know.
If we had a category 5 coming to hit Houston directly, I would be gone in a heartbeat. Probably to my sister's house. I would not stay in a shelter though - that is nightmarish to me!
I'm sure you are really glad that you are no longer in your RV! Stay safe. I'll be thinking of you!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I mean, I think we would be fine it it for this, but there is a level of anxiety that goes with it that I just do not have in a house. I am worried about our RV flooding (that park has flooded before), but we moved everything higher.
DeleteI trust your well will be connected to the generator? Do you have city sewage or septic? If it's septic, make sure your septic pump is connected too. Go on, ask me how I know...
ReplyDeleteWe don't have it yet - the house is not done. We are living in a rental with no generator or anything. We will have a well that can be plugged in with a extension cord or hard wired(have not crossed that bridge yet), yes, septic and thank you, we will make sure of that as well! I don't want to know - we have had our RV moment with septic!
DeleteO.k. So, when you have a private well and septic, bith have a pump. The well pump gets the water from the well to your house. Without it, if the power goes out, you will only have the water reserved in your tank, which should be plenty for drinking/hand washing for the duration of the outage. BUT If you flush a toilet just once, (which is an automatic response, isn't it?) it will drain the tank. You're now using your bottled water for handwashing.
DeleteNow: The septic. When you flush, your toilet goes to the tank, then, when the tank is full, the pump kicks on, anf pumps to your field(or mound, or whatever system you have.) So: Scenario with kids during typical power outage.
1) The one time toddler remembers to flush is during power outage. There goes the water in your tank. Well is not connected to generator, so you are on bottled water now, which, of course, being new to the area, you didn't think to store whenever you emptied an appropriate container.
2) As a woman, you are a "womaning" So is the tween. So...you "force a flush" by pouring 1.6 gallons of your store bought water in the bowl. Bye bye $$$.
3) The above gets the toilet emptied to your septic tank, but it doesn't pump it to your leach field.
4) After 3 days, power is restored at 2a.m. How do you know? You are jolted awake by a fearsome alarm. This alarm is alerting you that your tank, which the previous owners wisely put under your master bathroom window, is dangerously close to overflowing.
LOL - that is SOOOO good to know! I finally talked DH into the whole house generator! Thank you!
DeleteHope it's not too bad for everyone!
ReplyDeleteMe too! It is scary out there!
DeleteKeep safe and let us know you are okay when you can.
ReplyDeletewatching the news and thinking of you. hope you and yours are ok.
ReplyDelete